Today, I read a story about a company that lost customer information. They
were sued, as they should have been for violating the California Disclosure
Law. The feeble minded incompetent judge, San Francisco Superior Court
Judge Richard Kramer, denied the law suit because he did not see an
emergency or threat of irreparable injury.

Hum...so, I guess you can only sue in his courtroom when their is a death?

Here is the problem I have. If a company holds my data, then they *should*
be held accountable if they can not secure *their* *own* *machines*.
Penalizing the credit card holder is like saying "your a fool for using a
credit card; your a fool for trusting corporations". Maybe. How can
companies make billions of dollars on us but not be held accountable for
*their* *own* *screwups*?

To make matters worse, a bad credit rating can prevent you from attaining
some jobs. I worked for the US Gov in a highly secure facility and you
could lose your job, that's right your job, if you credit should become
bad. Their point of view is that you *might* be tempted to do something you
should not. The job I have now, also requires the utmost in security, could
result in termination should your credit receive a bad rating. Some
insurance companies charge you more if your credit is bad (yes, that is
true). In short, you life can take a nose dive fast should ID theft hit
you. So what are our fearless congressmen doing. NOTHING! On top of it Big
Business gets a free pass....BULLSHIT!

"Visa and MasterCard argued that because their relationship is with the
issuing banks, not the customers, they don't have to notify the victims."

"The Californian disclosure law, passed in January 2003 and a template for
disclosure legislation in other states, says that consumers should be
notified in the case of ID theft, although it's riddled with loopholes."

"The effects of online security fears are already being felt. Analyst firm
Gartner Group has revised its 2005 ecommerce prediction downwards this year
after 42 per cent of consumers said they were spending less online because
of security fears. Some 14 per cent have stopped paying bills online
altogether."